Educating through comedy: pupils encouraged to play their part

ENGAGEMENT: Donovan Goliath shares a selfie with pupils from Fairvale Secondary School in the Bluff for the Play Your Part in Schools activation programme.

DURBAN - USING humour while encouraging pupils to be involved in building their own future through active citizenship is what comedians Goliath and Goliath are tackling through the Play Your Part in Schools activation programme.

On Wednesday, the well-known Johannesburg-based comic trio, Jason, Nicholas and Donovan Goliath, engaged with young pupils on this nationwide movement at Fairvale Secondary School in Wentworth.

The aim of the programme, which has been brought about by Brand South Africa, is to coach, entertain and educate through comedy and a masterclass. It also guides pupils to finding opportunities which will inspire them to create a brighter future.

Speaking on the significance of Play Your Part, Jason Goliath explained the idea behind the programme: “What I love about the campaign is that, on the surface, it may sound a bit like doom and gloom to show up at some of these schools and impoverished communities and say listen, the reality is nobody is coming to help you. The government isn’t coming to save you; big businesses are not coming to give you grants and scholarships, etc.

“And for me, that’s such an important message to help people understand that we live in a time where, if you’re not taking responsibility to drive your ambitions yourself, if you’re not looking at the problems in your community from a perspective of how do you provide solutions, chances are, those problems are never going to disappear.”

The programme was also held at Wentworth Secondary and Umbilo Secondary.

Jason was also passionate about the programme being held in Wentworth this week, because his mum is originally from the area.

“I’m here to tell people this is a true story. My mum made a decision that she wants more, that she deserves more. And in order to have more, you have to do more, and that’s exactly what she did.

“Help is going to come to those who are already helping themselves.

“If you’re looking to get ahead, start now, fix the problems in your community, in your life personally, and find a way to move forward. This speaks very strongly to where we come from, and the communities we grew up in, and the decisions we had to make.”

Jason said their approach allows pupils to engage instead of treating them the way they would with traditional motivational speakers.

The comedy show is followed by a one-hour masterclass.

“We like to leave them with the understanding that we live in a time where there is so much unemployment, and everyone can achieve what they want if they apply themselves. The masterclass also touches on aspects relating to building a brand, how to sustain a brand and how to take responsibility for your own success.”

Nicholas Goliath added: “We want to motivate pupils, let them see things differently, and understand that what they see in their everyday life is not the world. I feel like that’s the problem because they see the same things every day, they believe there’s nothing better.

“We’re out there to show them that we come from the same backgrounds as they do, and you can make the decision not to follow the crowd if you work hard.”